Hi everyone — I was encouraged to update this, since I didn't fully explain the scope of this GoFundMe. It's intended to help me build a safe bridge through a medical crisis, a job transition, and the ongoing fallout from the last 16 months.

In February 2025, I was violently attacked by an ex. Part of the attack involved being thrown against a wall, which herniated my lumbar spine and left me with permanent pain and disability. I called the police that night. Instead of protecting me, they arrested me.

All of the charges were later dropped and dismissed. But what happened that night exposed a serious problem in how domestic violence calls are handled in California, and since then, I have been working on two tracks: pursuing justice for what happened to me, and working with legislators, lawyers, advocates, and experts to help reform the laws and practices that are harming survivors.

I wrote publicly about the issue for CalMatters and Harper’s Bazaar. I am also pursuing an ongoing civil-rights lawsuit related to what happened; the case survived an early attempt to dismiss it and is now in discovery. I can’t share details because of the litigation, but I can say that the legal and emotional strain has been real.

At the same time, I have continued trying to rebuild my life, work, and career while living with the physical injury from the assault. I’ve also experienced professional fallout from being public about domestic violence and wrongful arrest, including stigma that has made an already painful situation harder.

Now my body has hit a serious medical wall.

I have a rapidly growing goiter, thyroiditis, and severe fatigue. My doctor believes the current thyroid/goiter crisis may be connected to the accumulated stress my body has been under for more than a year. I am currently being treated.

At the same time, I have been offered and accepted a public-service job opportunity in Washington, DC that would allow me to do important democracy work at a critical time, work I care deeply about and am proud to take on.

But relocating across the country while dealing with unresolved medical concerns, a permanent injury, an active civil-rights lawsuit, and extreme fatigue is a lot to carry at once.

I'm also trying to figure out how to care for my cats safely during this transition. Several of them are bonded to each other, and one of them has historically struggled badly with change. Because of that, I am trying to avoid rushed decisions that would destabilize them.

This fundraiser is meant to help me create enough stability to make the next few months carefully instead of from panic.

If my health works, the funds will help me make the move with enough support to land safely. If my health situation turns out to be more serious, the funds will help me create a careful Plan B instead of being forced into another decision with no runway left.

Funds will go toward:

Medical care: including specialist visits, and follow-up treatment.

Accessible moving logistics: packing, lifting, storage, shipping, or other help so I do not worsen my back injury or push through severe fatigue unsafely.

Transition runway: basic expenses during the gap between jobs/insurance and while I stabilize medically.

Cat care and housing stability: safe care for my bonded cats, including housing decisions that let me avoid putting them with an unsafe or destabilizing arrangement.

Legal and emergency buffer: costs connected to the ongoing legal fallout and enough cushion to respond if my health, housing, or care plan changes quickly.

I’m asking for help because I am genuinely out of fuel. I have worked incredibly hard to rebuild. I am proud of the advocacy and public-interest work I’ve done, but I also have to be honest that my body is feeling the cost.

Any amount helps. Sharing also helps more than I can say.